Professional learning of academics enacting work-integrated learning

Abstract

ABSTRACT New managerialism and neo-liberal discourses have re-shaped traditional academic practices towards the vocational aspects of higher education. One institutional response to the growing graduate employability policy agenda has been the introduction of work-integrated learning (WIL) within Australian universities, a form of learning to require academics to engage students in work-based or work-like settings to enhance their work-readiness. WIL has required new ways of working and learning for academics who are called on to act as a conduit between the university, students, and industry, raising questions about how academics are developing such skills and knowledge. Adopting the Theory of Practice Architectures, we draw on a study of academics enacting WIL at two Australian universities to consider the ways in which academics undertake professional learning to enact practices in pursuit of the project of WIL. Specifically, we discuss a different conceptualisation of professional learning where academics ‘come to practice differently’ (p. 3), challenging traditional views of learning as being the results of formal and informal learning activities. We consider how learning activities may enable or constrain academics in coming to academic practices differently.